ASX plunges $155 billion as top economist forecasts Aussie recession
The Australian stock market has dropped more than six per cent in a single day, wiping more than $155 billion and recording the biggest one-day fall since the Global Financial Crisis.
At the close of market the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was down 455.6 points or 7.33 per cent, marking the end of a "horror" session not seen for almost 12 years.
The biggest one-day fall during the Global Financial Crisis was on October 10, 2008 when the market fell 8.3 per cent in a single trading day.
The market closed down more than 7 per cent, marking the worst single day since the GFC in 2008. Google Finance
ASX on the day of sharp falls across markets due to coronavirus fears. AAP
One victim of crashing stock prices is the Australian dollar, which sunk to a flash-low of 63.04 US cents about midday before recovering to a more manageable 65 US cents.
The low of 63 cents marks an 11-year-low against the US greenback.
This afternoon Westpac Chief Economist Bill Evans predicted the Australian economy will enter a recession for the first time since 1991.
"On a quarterly basis we expect the economy will contract in both the first and second quarters by 0.3 per cent and 0.3 per cent respectively to be followed by a rebound of 1.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively in the third and fourth quarters," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans wrote.
"That growth profile constitutes a technical recession but given the expected recovery in the second half of the year it is much more realistic to characterise the situation as a 'major disruption' to growth rather than the style of recession that Australia has experienced in the past."
Earlier today oil prices plunged, leading to predictions of $1 petrol to emerge.
CommSec chief economist Craig James predicting petrol prices could also drop dramatically.
The ASX was awash with red arrows as coronavirus fears bite bottom lines. AAP
"The ready-reckoner is that every US$1 a barrel fall in the oil price leads to a 1.0 cent fall at the petrol bowser. Provided the Aussie dollar is reasonably stable, motorists may be able to look forward to filling up for near $1 a litre," he wrote in a research note.
Fuel prices in Australia's capital cities on Sunday ranged from an average of $1.19 a litre in Adelaide to $1.536 in Hobart, according to Motormouth.com.au.
In Sydney, petrol was selling for $1.248, while it cost an average of $1.239 in Melbourne.
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